Moving Your Practice Online

Day 2: The Tools

Live Particpants: 44

Recorded on: March 22nd, 2020

Moving online means new toys! We’ll do an overview of the available software for holding your sessions, as well as some auxiliary tools that can make a purely audio/visual experience more engaging for your clients. We’ll even explore how to outfit your clients so they feel cared for and prepared for the New Normal with you.

Links, Notes, and Followups

Zoom vs Skype?

I use Zoom, as we’ve discussed, but Skype has developed a very robust, affordable product. For a detailed breakdown of each offering, click [here].

HIPAA Compliance for File Storage?

There was some question about whether Google Drive, which I use, qualifies for HIPAA compliance. After a little digging, I can confirm that it does. To read more about how to ensure your setup meets HIPAA guidelines, click [here].

For a more detailed breakdown of other file storage types, you can read [here].

Online Payment

I use Square, and I’ve found them to be well supported, great at integration with their native appointment software and reasonably priced. Their chief competitor, Stripe, I have very little personal experience with. You can read more about how the two stack up [here].

I have square integrated with my bank and my website so that whenever someone purchases one of the products/services on my page, Square handles the back end money transfers. If you do not have a website, Square does offer a virtual storefront where you can display and sell your items. Also, you can use Square to invoice people directly, which, while more time consuming, is a more reliable way of getting payment, I find.

My typical procedure is to have people book their sessions from my website without requiring payment up front. Afterwards, when I have better understanding of their needs and they’ve been able to experience an online session, we discuss whether they want to just pay for the one session or purchase a package. At that point, I typically invoice them directly, using Square, through email.